Edtropy
by XxShaym1nxX
Summary: The Eds, in their latest plan of scammery, find themselves locked inside of an alternate universe where Rolf is in charge of the Cul-De-Sac! And he is the only one who can help them find their way out! However, the only problem is that he won't let them know the secret to leaving the universe. Will they come back, and will they come out in one piece? Read this story to find out!
1. Prelude

Hello, guys. XxShaym1nxX here with a prelude for Ed-tropy. First, to make things clear, I will set up a content warning.

This Ed, Edd n Eddy fanfiction, at least for now, is pretty tame and campy (aside from the use of swear words), but in the FUTURE will contain questionable content. It's not sexual, and I don't want to spoil any events in the story, but I WILL say this. In the future, there will be violence/bloodshed of some sort in this story.

This story as well takes place before Big Picture Show, as I have not seen it even (even though secretly I really want to)

Also, before reading, I would like to set a few rules you must abide to.

You may NOT ask when the story will be updated. I am not a machine, and I don't run on a schedule.

You MAY critique

You may narrate it

You may not leave rude comments/reviews. You CAN be harsh in your review, but at the same time have to be constructive. A plain old bashy comment is no fun and opens no doors in change for anyone.

 _(this is optional but PLEASE leave a review if you've read the story. I would appreciate you soooooo badly OML)_

Toodles! Read the next chapter to get to the story!

And remember, have fun! ^^


	2. Chapter 1 - Edpressed

Ed screamed himself awake as his alarm roared in his ear. "Another day," he groaned groggily. The boy sluggishly put on his attire and treaded his way to the breakfast table, pouring himself some Chunky Puffs. Sarah, his sister, also sitting at the table, seemed to be showing a dirty look on her face.

"Gimme some Chunky Puffs!" Sarah demanded. Ed glared at Sarah disdainfully.

"I would have given you some, if only you had said the magic word," he chided.

"I'M TELLING MOM!" the girl harrumphed triumphantly. Ed just sighed, and laughed. His parents were so detached from their children that he wouldn't be surprised if his mother didn't listen to whatever it is Sarah was trying to frame him for. Ed finished eating all of his cereal and ran off to the bus stop, where it was pouring hard with rain. The sky was a dark grey stormy color, with clouds all too threatening in sight.

A few minutes later, the bus had come to Ed's bus stop. He slowly walked up the steps into the bus, only to be greeted by the other children's rude jeers and throwing of paper at him. The kids did not think very fondly of Ed.

While Ed was walking down the bus alley, he spotted something that illuminated his frame of mind. It was Double D and Eddy, grinning like happy, peppy little children.

"Hey Ed! Come sit with us!" shouted Double D. Ed dashed into view of Double D and Eddy.

"So, how have things been going?" queried Eddy, smirking.

"Uh… they've been going as usual. How about you guys?" retorted Ed.

"Well, check out my new muscle mass!" boasted Double D, strutting his lengthy arms.

"Sensational," stammered Ed.

"It's not much, I know, but it's enough to at least open a bottle of water," elaborated the boy in the charcoal hat.

Eddy stared in awe at Double D's arm. "H-How did you get so strong in such a small amount of time?" He gasped in astonishment.

"I took up a gymnasium over the summer," Double D answered. "And at least I actually tried in P.E. class, whereas _you_ just sat and moped all the time." He wrapped his hand around Eddy's neck slightly, accidentally giving it a small grip. The boy felt a tiny bit of pain, and let out a short noise of startlement.

"Just remember guys, from now on don't try and mess with me, or…" Double D giggled. "I'll leave you to think for yourself what'll happen."

A gargantuan beam materialized on Ed's face. The sheer presence of Double D and Eddy was enough to bring solace within the kid. Being someone like Edwin Lurz Savage was rough otherwise.

Edward Marion Rienhold, better known as Double D, was a different beast altogether. He craved power to an enormous degree. He took ultimate pride in the state of dominance. It made him feel proud to be near whoever he was prevailing over.

Last in the group was Eridan Skipper McGee, or Eddy for short. He didn't change very much, from what the other Eds had witnessed. He was still his usual manic, eccentric self, and now it was his turn to speak.

"Well guys, over the past few days, I've been perfecting my greatest scheme of scammery!" he squealed swiftly.

"Oh, geez, I'm super psyched," groaned Double D sarcastically.

"Of course, I haven't finished it yet, but I'm super close to being done!" Eddy's irises increased in size rapidly as he clubbed and rubbed his two hands together. The boy then began to fidget hyperactively. Eddy proudly kicked his legs and flapped his hands. Double D poked Eddy's right arm lightly.

"Eddy.. are you okay?" squeaked Double D.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I just tend to do that a lot." Eddy interjected.

The day passed, and yet the problem did not stop. When it was time for Eddy to go to bed, he started fidgeting again. He hit his head on the wall constantly. The feeling persisted, however, as Eddy started to skip and gallop like there was no tomorrow. He slammed a disc onto a record player, and played the song on the disco on full volume. The kid kept tripping out vividly for 20 minutes, and then passed out on the bed with a gasp.

The next day, Eddy sluggishly opened his eyes to find a sticky note attached to his forehead. He peeled the note off and read it:

" _Eridan, stop prancing around your bedroom like a moron and playing obnoxious pop songs at 9:00 P.M. Love, Mom._ "

Eddy blushed, flustered at the situation, and groaned, "Alright."


	3. Chapter 2 - Dyed In The Wool Ed

(AN: Sorry for the long wait. I was busy with other things)

Eddy squawked like a macaw whilst sprinting outside the school enthusiastically. Ed and Double D were following him at a lesser speed.

"Come on, come on guys! We have scams to enact, what are ya waiting for?" shrilled Eddy.

"I'm coming!" replied Double D immediately. Eddy eventually led the two into the kitchen of his house, where on the stove was a pot cooking on a blazing surface, with an unidentified liquid inside of it.

"What's cooking?" pondered Ed.

"Ah, it's vinegar. We're selling fake soup to the kids," Eddy answered with a smirk.

"Is that it?" Ed puzzled.

"Of course not, ya dimwit! We still have many, many other ingredients to go, like…" Eddy paused for a while to open a package of _Scritel Candies_ and pour it into the concoction.

"This bag of _Scritel Candies_! And this tub of oatmeal, and, er… Leftover cinnamon from the cinnamon rolls I had last night!" He shoved the listed items into the mixture haphazardly.

"Plus, some of my extracted blood!" the child shrieked.

"E-E-Eddy? Are you sure this brew is entirely non-toxic?" Double D whimpered, shaking wildly as Eddy was inserting the blood sample.

"I'm sure it won't be lethal," Eddy said, shrugging.

"And last, but not least is… whatever THIS is supposed to be!" Eddy proudly held up a barrel of what looked to be nuclear waste, it was made of rusted metal, and had the iconic nuclear symbol plastered onto it.

"Eddy, don't put that in!" Double D screeched frantically.

The pink-skinned boy gave Double D a menacing glare. "Relax, sockhead, it's gonna be fine," Eddy tried to convince Double D.

Double D was still trembling, "Are you sure about that?" he squeaked.

"Yes, I'm sure." Eddy replied. "Now, could Ed carry this for me while I hit up the kids, will ya?" He passed the boiling pot to the fairly daffodil-colored man, who trod his way outside the front door in which Eddy led him and Double D to.

Ed firmly placed the pot on the grassy terrain and Eddy gently released a few plastic bowls on the ground simultaneously.

"Come get your soup from the Ed's Soup Parlor? Only 25 cents a bowl!" Eddy shouted. Double D stared at the boy faintly.

"I'm serious, Eddy, this is very destructive to the other kids' health!" the hatted child panted.

Eddy's fist shut immediately and he grew very tense.

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO…"  
"NO!" Double D tackled Eddy down to the ground swiftly.

"I'm much stronger now. and I am NOT letting that go to waste for your wicked, immoral acts!"

"LET GO OF ME!" Eddy hollered.

"Stop ordering me around!" roared Double D.

Eddy raised himself from the ground, but Double D tried to push him back down. Eddy merely struggled to prevent himself from being sent back, due to Double D's newfound impeccable strength. Luckily for Eddy, he was just barely able to move Double D off of him. Another idea came to the still-paranoid boy, which was to block Eddy from the pot. He rushed in front of the flaming soup container, and spread his arms like an eagle.

"I'm still not letting you sell this to the kids!" he barked.

Double D's arms were getting sore by the second, and so he chose to rest one of his arms. He placed his arm in the soup, unaware of the consequences of his deed.

Then all of a sudden, Double D was encased in the substance, and being dragged into the pot by its force. All the while Double D was screaming and begging to know what was going on, until he disappeared into the mixture. Ed and Eddy gasped, but were too deep in shock to move a muscle.

"What happened?" stuttered Eddy.

"I'LL SAVE YOU, DOUBLE D!" Ed stammered. Then Ed bolted into the soup himself, and he as well was sucked inside of it.

"ED!" Eddy yelled in terror, racing to the concoction of his friends' imprisonment. The boy's pupils shrunk. His fists were getting clammy, and he was breathing slightly louder than usual.

"Well, there's only one thing left for me to do," murmured Eddy. He took a deep breath and made a daring leap for his dooming brew.

The pink kid found himself along with Double D and Ed to be inside of a multi-colored, vibrant wormhole. He meekly looked up at the other kids.

"I told you not to put the nuclear waste inside of the soup!" Double D barked.

"Yeah, I guess you could say I didn't listen," Eddy groaned, staring down at the floor.

"LOOK! I think we're reaching the end!" Ed blurted, pointing to an approaching light in their way. The three children screamed in unison all of the way until they had no other choice but to enter the void of illumination.

Everything was pitch black.

The next thing the trio saw was themselves on a rocky cliff in the sunset. Beneath the cliff was a petite village with a few buildings, one very humongous compared to the rest.

The kids had their mouths agape in awe.

"Where are we?" Ed questioned, trembling.

"We appear to have been transported into another dimension," clarified Double D. "Let's speak to the village down there, maybe they'll know how to get us back."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go see em!" barked Eddy, who hastily sped up to the buildings.

"Eddy, that's not- oh, whatever!" groaned Double D, as he and Ed followed Eddy's path.


	4. 3 - A Million Eds To Die In The West

The Eds were nervously strolling down the rough sediment cliff. The first thing that caught their eye was a rusted wooden sign with a message of a very queer nature.

"Welcome to the Cul-De-Sac of Peach Creek, population, nineteen," read Double D aloud. He continued with, "I don't understand! That's where we live, but… this looks nothing like the Cul-De-Sac we're familiar with!"

"Must have some relation with our dimension if it has the same name as our location," Eddy noted.

The group had finally set foot in the village. Said village was eerily tranquil and silent. In fact, it was so quiet that the sound of the tumbleweeds could be very clearly heard. The small buildings were all cheaply constructed with very poorly debarked wood as the material being held together by rusted metal nails.

"I-Is it safe to be here?" Eddy said, quivering.

Then suddenly, the clique heard a cackle. The cackling voice was a familiar sound, it took quite a while for them to decipher it, but soon the voice was found to be from Jonathan Peter Williams.

"It's Jonny!" Double D boomed thunderously. His prediction turned out to be true when the Eds turned around to see Jonny, staring at the sky, grinning, and caressing his timber wood plank.

"Ah, Jonny. Such a blessing to see a close acquaintance!" Ed uttered.

"We suppose you've been hauled off by the wormhole too?" inquired Eddy.

Jonny's eyes widened in puzzlement.

"What wormhole? Who are you people?" the tan child stammered.

"WHAT?" crowed Eddy. "Jonny, it's me, Eddy! These people next to me are Ed and Double D!" He pointed to his two equally confused friends.

"Well, Eddy, you must be completely nuts, because I've just been minding my own business, watching the birds with Plank," the child interjected.

"I hate birds…" grumbled Eddy begrudgingly. Then a pigeon swooped from the sky and started pecking on Eddy's foot. Eddy let out a loud groan.

"Hey, dorks," snickered a voice. The Eds turned around to discover who it was. The words had come from Kevin Meen Burns, who was chuckling to himself like an immature teenager.

"Kevin, don't be like that! It's not funny!" snapped another voice. Walking closer to Kevin was Nastya Aileen Chill, commonly called Nazz as a nickname.

"Didn't your parents ever teach you compassion and respect?" exclaimed Nazz with absolute contempt.

"My parents are dead," Kevin snorted. "I don't need to follow their orders anymore.

The Eds gasped in astonishment.

"That doesn't make it okay!" Nazz sputtered.

"Yeah, will you just shut up?" jeered Kevin.

"Whatever," scoffed Nazz. She looked at the bewildered Eds sympathetically. "Are you guys okay?"

"Nazz?" Eddy choked, cupping his hands.

The blonde girl firmly placed her hand on her cheek.

"How do you know my name?" Nazz bubbled bashfully.

"Please don't ask," replied Double D. "Do you know anyone particularly knowledgeable in the field of portals and dimensions?" he retorted.

"Any and all knowledge in Peach Creek is held in the best ways by our ruler, down in the huge royal castle," Nazz replied slowly and slightly monotonically.

"Ah! Thank you!" squeaked Double D enthusiastically.

The coterie swiftly scattered their way to a dark, desaturated violet-blue palace made from firm brick. A pair of bright azure painted quartz vases took up the front corners, a sea of flames bursting out of the vases' openings. Two swallowtail and tongue types of flag with black, white, and blue diamond checkers as patterns elegantly hung from the gatehouse. A moat of clear river water surrounded the castle, as well as gravelly redstone, letting the moat stand out more. Two goats, who looked undoubtedly akin to that of Rolf's goats, stood voluntarily and blockaded the dark oak wooden door.

Eddy approached the door sluggishly. "Hey, move it or lose it, or I'll…" He paused when the goats neared him in a speed contrasting deeply with his sedate tread to the door and began to snarl.

"Oh, um… sorry, stay if you want, whatever floats your boat," quivered Eddy, backing away from the horned creatures timorously.

"We merely came here as foreigners looking to see your ruler to ask questions," claimed Double D.

The goats left the presence of the door, allowing the gates to part widely as an entrance.

Ed, Double D, and Eddy went inside the palace, to find tons upon tons of flights of jet black stairs right in front of them.

"That's a very extensive stairway," remarked Double D. "Let's go!" Eddy shrieked.

"This place is WEIRD!" declared Ed, as they ran up the stairs. All the while they stumbled across Sarah trying to grasp Jimmy by the back and throw him out the doors.

"I'm telling you, Jimmy, he's a terrible man! You shouldn't be working for him!" scolded Sarah.

"But I am!" exclaimed Jimmy.

"No, you're NOT!" roared Sarah defiantly. She then proceeded to thrust Jimmy off of the stairs, who began to burst into tears.

"DO NOT BE SO CRUEL, MY BABY SISTER!" Ed screeched.

"Come on, Ed, we're wasting time," snapped Eddy,

After the lengthy trip, the Eds were face to face with a hallway of many metal doors. One was labeled, "KITCHEN," another was labeled, "LAVATORY", and yet another one had been labeled, "QUARANTINE CHAMBERS".

"What does quarantine mean?" pondered Ed.

"I-It means… stuttered Double D, tensing up as if he felt he was endangered.

"I found him, you guys!" Eddy exclaimed, shaking his finger to a door labeled, "THRONE ROOM AND OFFICE OF HRODULF MARCUS WAY".

"Good on you, Eddy!" shouted Ed. He and Double D followed their friend's course and Double D opened the door, getting it to creak slightly.

"Hrodulf?" Double D squeaked.

"Please, call me Rolf," a voice remarked. A light was shone to reveal someone who clearly looked to be the Rolf they knew, but the way he dressed was quite disparate from the normal Rolf. He was wearing a long-sleeved, thick silk, jet-black with a violet circle pattern jacket, very shaggy grey pants, and a luminescent golden crown encrusted with rubies on the left side of his head.

"Um… Rolf, do you have any knowledge on portals and dimensions?" questioned Double D.

"Rolf has a full library of books about many different subjects, portals and dimensions included!" answered Rolf.

"That's good to hear! Where are they?" said Eddy.

"Unfortunately, you have to sign up as a peasant for Rolf to lend you his books," he continued in a more sympathetic tone.

"Listen, Rolf, we kinda need the books because someone somewhere in another dimension is looking for us, and we don't have time to join your silly little cult or whatever," Ed tried to explain.

"This information does not matter to Rolf! If you don't sign to be a peasant, no books for you!" Rolf demanded.

"We're not going to be your stupid peasants!" growled Eddy.

"Actually, you are. Rolf forgot to tell you that anyone who steps within the Cul-De-Sac territory is required to become a peasant for him!" announced the azure haired emperor.

"Seriously?" Eddy hollered.

"Yes. You will all be Rolf's peasants, and you will stay Rolf's peasants for all of eternity. You shall never leave. In fact, Rolf forbids you from access to the books on portals and dimensions. However, you are still able to read every other book in Rolf's catalog," he chided.

"Alright, fine," piped Eddy as Rolf handed him a paper for signing. The kid transcribed, Eridan "Eddy" McGee. Ed and Double D also wrote down their names in a similar format.

"JIMMY-BOY!" cried Rolf. Jimmy came in sprinting like a cheetah.

"Escort these three to the quarantine," the son of a shepherd requested.

"Will do, sir!" Jimmy chirped in a docile manner. He led the Eds to the quarantine room, and picked out a cell for them.

"This is the cell you all will be staying in," Jimmy vocalized. The light boy opened the cell door.

"What gives?" Eddy barked.

"All peasants must stay in their quarantine cells for their time being in the Cul-De-Sac," replied Jimmy, with his index finger raised. Jimmy then forcefully shoved the Eds into their shared cell, and slammed the door, locking it.

"Fuck," yapped Double D. Ed and Eddy gazed at him in horrified surprise.

"That's a bad word, Double D!" Ed pointed out.

"Oh dear, I just said a no-no word! Ah, I'll never forgive myself after this travesty!" the kid in the hat whimpered. Double D then began to crouch on the floor and shiver timidly, breathing softly, "Naughty, naughty, naughty child!" over and over again. Ed and Eddy merely shrugged.

"Now what do we do?" Eddy croaked, staring down at the cold stone floor.

Ed did not respond, but gazed solemnly beyond the metal bars.


	5. Chapter 4 - An Arm and an Ed

(AN: Sorry for not getting this done sooner. I was busy with maintenance as well as other stuff.)

The Eds were all joylessly walking around their cell room, observing the contents in it. The overall design gave off a very gloomy vibe. The wall and floor were both made of dark grey, hard, cold concrete. There were two beds, and each were made of oak wood, coming with plain white colored mattresses, two pillows, and shabby, tattered red blankets. On both beds were syringes filled with a violet substance labeled, FOR INSOMNIA MAINTENANCE. In the corner of the cell lay a cardboard box, with a huge stack of hay and six bottles of water inside of it. The box was labeled, FOR HUNGER AND THIRST MAINTENANCE. A quaint-looking wooden door labeled LAVATORY was next to the bed on the right.

On one of the stone walls was taped a lengthy piece of paper, a list. This list caught Eddy's eye, and he walked up to the paper to read it.

"Let's see, what do we have here?" Eddy said to himself.

"Cul-De-Sac Code of Law," he read. "Peasants are required to attend Peach Creek Civic Academic Center every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Peasants may not leave their cells for more than two hours a day. The time a peasant spends at Peach Creek Civic Academic Center does not factor into their two hours of time outside the cell. If any of these rules are broken, there will be severe consequences."

"Well, that's just great! We barely have enough time in the day to find ourselves a way to escape from here! We're never gonna get out of this place!" wailed the pink-skinned child.

Double D swiftly gave Eddy a contemptible scowl. "Oh no," he began. "I am NOT staying here for the rest of my life! Eddy, you brought us here, and you are going to get us out! Go to the library, and find a book that'll help us with stealing the portal book!" Double D snapped.

"Alright," Eddy answered with a slightly fearful voice.  
"JIMMY!" called Eddy, and the mentioned boy came racing to his cell.

"What is it you need?" Jimmy asked, faking a concerned tone.

"I would like to use some of my two hours of freedom to visit the library," replied Eddy. Jimmy placed the keys in the lock of the cell door, allowing it to open. Eddy sprinted outside of his quarantine room, and through the corridor, into a room labeled, LIBRARY.

There Eddy found himself in a spacious place, with a light teal painted wall, and a oak hardwood floor. Lengthy, towering wooden bookcases with many books on each shelf took up most of the room. Eddy chose to navigate a bookcase tagged, HOW-TO AND STYLE.

"Let's see, The Basics of Calculus, no, Subconscious Biases and What Not To Do About Them, not what I'm looking for, How To Be A Great Typist, definitely not… Oh! Here we go! The Art of Thievery!" Eddy picked up the book from the shelf, and walked up to Jimmy, who was sitting at a desk near the door.

"Can I help you?" Jimmy questioned politely.

"Uh, yes… I'd like to check out this book," Eddy said, placing the book on the counter.

Jimmy scanned the book, and pushed it back in Eddy's direction. "You have three weeks to use this book. When three weeks is up, this book must be brought back," Jimmy warned.

"Will do," responded Eddy, and Jimmy escorted the kid back into his cell room, where Ed and Double D were waiting for him. Double D still carried a dirty look on his face.

"Back so soon? Well, good for you. Now siddown and read!" dictated Double D in a thunderous voice.

"Alright, Double D, I will! Jeez, you don't need to be so harsh!" Eddy immediately opened the book and began reading it.

"Actually, I do," the hatted boy remarked. He turned over to Ed. "While Eddy is busy finding us a way out of here, you and I are going to help us earn a living whilst in the horrid conditions of this world!"

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Ed queried doubtfully.

"Easy. I'll just do what Eddy does all the time. I'll repeatedly scam the kids." Double D gave Ed a smug smirk.

"JIMMY!" Double D yelled. Jimmy sighed, and treaded to the Eds' cell, slow as pond water, to attend to Double D's needs.

"What do you want now?" complained Jimmy bitterly.

"Are there any kids outside of their cells at the moment?" Double D said.

"Only Jonny," Jimmy informed.

"That's nice to know. May me and Ed go outside the cell for a while?" pondered Double D.

"Sure," said Jimmy, shrugging his shoulders. He opened the door for Ed and Double D to make their way out. They exited the castle, and seeked out Jonny, still gazing at the sky.

"What's the scam?" asked Ed.

"Heck if I know!" laughed Double D. "Remember what I said about doing what Eddy does? Well, we're doing just that! We'll quickly make or find some piece of junk, and sell it to Jonny!" Double D walked around the plains, and found a lone bird's egg on the ground. He picked it up, and prepared to make a statement.

"Hey, hey, Jonny-boy! This right here, is one of the most rare and valuable types of pearl on the planet! And it can be yours for only twenty-five cents!" screamed Double D enthusiastically.

Jonny gave Double D a shameful glare. "That's literally just a bird's egg," the kid remarked.

"What? No it's not!" Double D shrieked.

"I've seen lots of bird eggs! That looks exactly like em'!" Jonny pointed out in an annoyed tone.

"Rats," Double D groaned. "Let's think of other stuff."

Ed and Double D went on to try out other scam ideas that they had come up with. One of the scams involved Double D selling a worm to him as a substitute for a frankfurter, resulting in him screaming bloody murder and running away. Another scam dealt with Double D breaking a branch off of a tree and trying to pass it off as a majestic sword, however Jonny showed no interest. For yet another scam, a naked Double D had been forced into wearing dog ears, being taped onto a tree, and sold as a pet dalmatian, as Ed put it. Jonny cringed at the sight, and as a result nothing much got accomplished, except for Ed having to deal with a shouting and aggressive Double D.

Eventually the boys had to form a last resort scam. Ed threw a rock at Double D.

"Ow!" piped Double D. He then retaliated by pelting the same rock at Ed. The two then grew at each other's throats, and began a heated battle of rocks.

"Come see the full- OW! ...edition of The War of The Stones, only twenty-five cents!"

"Sorry, but I don't find enjoyment in watching people brutally assault each other," explained Jonny, shaking his lowered head.

Double D sighed. "Oh, it's hopeless!" He started pouting, groaning, and walking around in circles. Jonny tapped Double D on the shoulder.

"You know what, I've decided to be a little generous today, because I honestly feel sorry for you. Here, have a quartz piece." Jonny handed the child in the hat a shard of white quartz.

"What on earth am I to do with this?" barked Double D in confusion.

"One hundredth away from a ruby," interjected Jonny in a playfully snide manner.

Double D gave Jonny a puzzled look. "What is all this talk about quartz and rubies supposed to mean?" he shrilled.

Jonny swung his palm to his face. "Are you that dumb? Okay, let me explain. Gemstones are the currency we use. Quartz is worth one cent, amber is five cents, moonstone is ten cents, emeralds are twenty-five cents, sapphires are fifty cents, and a ruby is worth one hundred cents. Need I say more?"

"Oh!" Double D's eyes widened. "I didn't know that."

"Ugh, you're so dense," commented Jonny, focusing his view back on the sky. Double D was still on the verge of blowing a gasket, to Ed's concern.

"Um… Double D? Are you okay?" inquired Ed, afraid to get near his raging friend. Double D reached out to Jonny's lap, and snatched Plank.

"Hey, Jonny…" he called in a soft yet stern voice. Jonny took a glance at Double D.

SMACK! Right on the head, Plank came plummeting through Jonny with the assistance of Double D's forceful bash. He continued to do the same action, over and over again. Ed tried to restrain Double D, but he bit the yellow boy in the hand before he could do so.

"This is getting uncomfortably violent, I'm going to go inside," Ed stammered.

Ed retreated back to his cell room, and notified Eddy about everything that happened. Double D could see that Jonny was barely conscious from his assailment. He shoved his hands into Jonny's pocket, and grabbed a ruby and an emerald from inside of it.

"Oh, you sneaky weasel," bubbled Double D, placing the jewels into his pocket. Then he chose to go back to the cell room, where he heard some strange words being spoken as he was entering.

"HE DID WHAT NOW?" Eddy stormed, clenching his fists.

"Yup," said Ed.

"Double D…" Eddy drawled with utmost disdain in his voice.

"What? The fair-skinned child blurted.

"C'mere." Double D obeyed Eddy's words, and finally treaded inside of the cell.

"You can't just go around beating people up for no reason!" scolded Eddy.

"Well, he wasn't giving me enough money!" croaked Double D in response.

"That doesn't justify you giving him a beating!" the pink boy screeched.

"But look at all the money I got as a result!" Double D showed Eddy the gems he pick-pocketed from Jonny.

"What are those?" questioned Eddy.

"They're the type of currency in this place. The emerald is twenty-five cents, and the ruby is a dollar!" pointed out Double D.

"Ah," said Eddy. "Anyways, I'm going to bed. It's dark out. Tomorrow is Monday, right?"

"Yes," replied Double D.

"That means we have to go to school. Better get some extra shuteye." Eddy rested his head on a pillow in his bed. Ed and Double D also chose to go to sleep, Ed entering Eddy's bed, and Double D sleeping by himself.


	6. Chapter 5 - One Over The Ed

The radiant sun bestowed its glow upon the castle, awakening everybody in it. Double D's eyes sluggishly fluttered open, and he walked up to the bed that Ed and Eddy were using, picking up the book Eddy got from the library to go with him.

"Wake up," whispered Double D, tugging on Eddy's shirt. "We have to go to school today."

Eddy groaned loudly, and pulled Ed up to consciousness. "Get up, Ed," he said. Ed's head popped out of the blanket, and he mumbled, "What now?"

"School, Ed. We don't wanna be late." Eddy neared the cell door, bellowing, "JIMMY!" as thunderingly as he could.

Jimmy ran to Eddy's cell as soon as he heard his name. "What is it?" he hissed, giving Eddy a bitter look.

"We need to go to school," he explained. Jimmy opened up the cell door, enabling all three Eds to walk outside of it.

"Oh, good lord, why do I have to do this all the time?" the albino boy whined as the Eds made their way to the school building.

The school was located, conveniently enough, just a few meters away from the castle. The materials made to create it were not but cheap wood and rusted nails, with merely one story. Along with that one story was a courtyard, with wooden tables placed in one section, and filthy, mucky fitness equipment in another section.

Ed, Double D and Eddy found their classroom to be housing Rolf, standing near an oak hardwood desk and blackboard, and cheap cardboard student desks, each housing all of the Cul-De-Sac kids, and even some of their parents as well. Rolf slammed the wooden desk, anticipating everybody else's attention.

"Welcome to school, everybody. Today Rolf is going to educate all of you low-class imbeciles about the concept of statuses under his rule."

All of the students, and by extension the Eds, briskly tuned in to Rolf's words.

"There are in total four statuses a citizen is able to reach, a peasant, an offender, a ruler, and an Urban Ranger." The cobalt haired teenager drew a triangle, and divided it with three horizontal lines.

"The highest status is the _Ruler_ status. This status goes to, of course me! Rolf! This status will be passed on to the top Urban Ranger once Rolf is finally deceased.

While we're on the topic, _Urban Rangers_ are second most high status. Rolf puts them to work, and in return they get more rights than peasants. For instance, they are allowed to eat food besides hay for free, and have overall superior hospitality conditions. Offenders are the very lowest status, even lower than the peasants. This status goes to those who have broken one of the laws. The consequences given to an offender can range from-"

"Fuck you and your bullshit statuses, Rolf!" screeched a squeaky voice. The voice belonged to none other than Double D, sticking his finger in a manner that was pointing to Rolf.

Rolf's eyes widened in frustrated perplexity. "Ed-boy!" he barked. "You are not allowed to disgrace Rolf with ever such insolent vocabulary!"

"Oh, can't I now? You just think you're so goddamn special and almighty?" snapped Double D in response.

"You should not be saying those words at all! They are extremely bad words!" scolded the azure boy.

"Your name's a fucking bad word, ya know that?" Double D taunted hostilely. Rolf gave Double D a puzzled stare.

"What?" he uttered faintly.

"Yeah, it is! And I heard that it means _CONCEITED ASSHOLE WHO THINK'S HE'S SO MUCH BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE, WHEN HE'S NOTHING BUT A FUCKING WASTE OF SPACE!_ "

The class was roaring with laughter. Rolf groaned in dismay, and cleared his throat noisily. "Anyway," he drawled in a disdainful tone, "Rolf is going to show you one of the lightest punishments for an offender. A good recent example being Double D's little outburst! He will now face _The Destined Paddling_!" Rolf pulled out a pair of handcuffs from his pocket, and picked up a wooden oar that was leaning on his desk. He forced Double D's arms on his back, cuffed them, and swung an oar onto Double D's backside repeatedly. All of the other students in the classroom gasped at the sight of the beating, mixed in with the sock-headed child's incessant howls of agony.

"That is only one of the less-severe acts of discipline for offenders! Other punishments can come to be as heavy as-"

Rolf's words were interrupted by the ringing of a bell.

"Oh!" sputtered Rolf. "That's the recess bell! See you in thirty minutes!" The other students ran outside of the wooden room to the courtyard, and Double D was freed from his bonds. He sprinted to where Ed and Eddy were, which was near the sports equipment.

Laying on the ground was a set of dirty foam weights. Double D picked them up and started forcing them up and down. Eddy glared at Double D in response to this peculiar predicament.

"I just find it odd how you're willfully lifting weights," remarked the pink kid.

"Well, that's because I am a very productive person! And speaking of productivity…" Double D picked up Eddy's book from the floor, and pushed it into Eddy's direction.

"Read it," he demanded bluntly. Eddy sighed, opened up the book, and started examining the text in it. However, the boy could barely seem to concentrate on what he was requested to do. Eddy looked around the courtyard, and paid more notice to other things, such as Nazz telling Kevin about the American Revolution, and how the colonists revolted against the British empire. It slightly intrigued Eddy, but then Double D snapped his fingers at him, and ordered, "Focus". Eddy heeded, whilst also sweating. Double D took a glance at Ed.

"Hey, why aren't _you_ lifting weights?" the fair-skinned child grumbled.

"I don't really feel like it. Why should I anyway?" replied Ed.

"We need to get stronger to fight Rolf!" Double D nagged, shaking Ed's arm to attract his attention.

"I'm not sure that ruthless violence is the way to go as a first means of retrieving what you want," Ed objected.

Double D smacked his face with his bare left hand. "Ed, you're absolutely hopeless…"

The rest of the day carried on in the school for six more hours, with Rolf meandering on and on about statuses and punishments, Eddy paying far more heed to his book than Rolf, Double D falling asleep most of the day, and Rolf constantly jeering at him to listen to his words. When the Eds were sentenced back to their cells, both Double D and Eddy were extremely fatigued, Eddy especially, who ceased to keep on reading when school was over, and instead started laying and fidgeting on the floor in a devastated fashion. Meanwhile, Double D kept himself busy by continuing to plot ideas for future scams with Ed. They kept on doing so for the rest of the day.


	7. Chapter 6: Bite Off More Than You Can Ed

Another exhausting day had passed for Rolf. The emperor simply couldn't believe how… _pain inducing_ the past five days had been! All of those miserable hours spent at the schoolhouse, giving lecture upon lecture to every student having to repeatedly stress the rules to those who didn't obey. And, above all, Double D's obnoxious remarks! It was utterly nightmarish!

Rolf let out a sigh while sitting at his office desk. He looked down at the desk and noticed that there was no paperwork to fill out, or much of anything to do for that matter.

"Oh, it seems that Rolf has a free weekend," the boy remarked to himself, wondering what he would do instead. He gazed around his bleak, stone office room and daydreamed about what it would be like outside of the castle. _A long-awaited breath of fresh air, discovering new locations, reminiscing about familiar ones, and having nothing to do but relax!_

But of course, Rolf needed somebody to bring along with him.

 _Jimmy!_ A thought burst into his head. _I could have him come with me and we could take a vacation together!_

"BOY-JIMMY!" the king crowed. Jimmy sluggishly walked down the halls, his fists clenched tightly.

"I swear, if I have to waste my time with ONE more task, I am going to…"

"Jimmy!" Rolf interrupted the boy's murmuring. "Rolf would like to invite you on a vacation with him!"

The pale kid brightened up, slightly. "I'll take it up, where are we going?"

"We are just taking a stroll outside of the Cul-De-Sac. I'll get the collar, and then we'll go."

"Ugh," the child groaned.

"Now, now, Jimmy. You know that I only use the collar to protect you," Rolf said, searching out the collar among his various possessions.

" _More like to enslave me…"_ Jimmy muttered.

"What's that?" Rolf said. "Speak up, Jimmy-boy!"

"Nothing!"

"Then come over here." Rolf opened up a loosened safe door, acquired a dark-violet shaded collar, and affixed it to Jimmy's neck.

"And away we go, to lands unsettled!" announced Rolf, sprinting outside of the castle, dragging the reluctant Jimmy the whole way down. All of the children were outside, conducting their usual business. Jonny, staring at a wall in the castle, heard Rolf call his name, and raced up to him.

"Jonny-boy, Rolf entrusts you with the responsibility of guarding the castle. Can you fulfill his request while he is away?" inquired Rolf politely.

"Sure thing!" Jonny replied, giving Rolf a thumbs up.

"Thank you," said Rolf. Then, he and Jimmy made their way out beyond the Cul-De-Sac.

Hiding behind the palace were Ed, Double D, and Eddy, who had been eavesdropping.

"He's gone, guys! Now we have the chance to steal the book!" Ed whispered.

"You're kidding me, right? I don't even have a plan set up yet! How can we escape from here without a plan?" barked Eddy in response.

"What we can do, though, is listen in on Rolf, and potentially gather new information about him!" suggested Double D.

"That doesn't sound half-bad. Let's go do that!" Eddy said, following the path that Rolf had taken. Double D and Ed hurried behind him.

Rolf and Jimmy sauntered out into the forest, specifically known as the Phantom Woods. Dark wood trees covered every inch of the daunting wood, which was mossy and sappy to the brim. The forest canopy diminished all but the faintest traces of light. Every now and again, one might see the occasional shriveled weed or blade of jungle grass sprouting out from the slime and muck of the forest floor. The whole place smelled of saltwater and sulfur. In the past, some brave soul had cleared a winding path through the darkness and murk - although now, the cypresses hunched over it like old crones, burying it in shade.

"Ah, how Rolf can just smell the terrain!" said the tan boy.

"It's putrid here," Jimmy remarked, wafting his hand under his nose.

The two continued on. The three Eds stole softly behind them.

"He is right, it does smell fucking awful!" whispered Double D.

"SWEAR TAX!" Ed hissed, pulling out an emerald from Double D's pocket. The boy in the hat groaned.

"Um… guys? I'm not sure it's safe to hang around here…" Eddy said. His whole body was shaking. "I heard Nazz telling Kevin yesterday about how one should never go into these woods at night! And it's getting pretty late..."

"Well, Eddy, we don't really know whether or not her advice is true, do we?" Double D retorted.

"No…" the pink boy murmured.

The quintet carried on with their stroll in the woods, until evening faded to dusk. Suddenly, Rolf stopped in his tracks. It was a trailer; a dingy old thing - the blue paint was chipping off in places, and there was dirt and mold between the slats of the roof.

"Hey, Rolf recognizes this contraption! It is the Kanker trailer! Oh, may those infernal wrecks of human beings be SHANGLE-BLANGLED all the way to the NETHER REGION AND BACK, NEVER TO SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN!" Rolf shouted, stomping up to the window and pounding his fist against it. To his bewilderment, though, Rolf could not see any of the Kanker sisters inside.

The son of a shepherd hatched an idea.

"Boy-Jimmy, Rolf would like to enter the Kanker trailer in order to acquire more supplies. As such, he requests that you stay right here, so as to be safe from any danger," Rolf told his servant, before straying into the mobile home. Jimmy nodded, and then turned around to see the Eds right behind him.

"Agh!" Jimmy screamed. "What are you guys doing here?"  
"Oh, please, Jimmy, don't tell Rolf that we've been stalking him!" begged Double D, holding his hands together.

"I won't," replied Jimmy. "However, there is something that I'd like to talk to you about," he continued, removing the collar from his neck and tossing it onto the ground.

"What is it?" Eddy asked.

"Ya see this?" Jimmy pulled out a key from his pocket.

"Yes, said Double D.

"This is Rolf's safe key. However, it also can be used to open the cells. I'm giving it to you, so I won't have so much work to do." He placed the key in Double D's left hand.

"Wow… Jimmy, you don't suppose Rolf would find out that you lent his keys to us?" the crimson shirted kid asked.

"Hah!" Jimmy laughed. "Rolf doesn't pay any attention to his belongings. Once he finds out about it, it'll be FAR too late!" The pale child broke into hysterics.

"Oh, I getcha!" said Double D. All of a sudden, the children heard a soft creaking noise from the trailer's door.

"That'll be Rolf. Go on, shoo!" Jimmy dismissed them, and the Eds scampered off.

"Rolf is back! And he has brought some good stuff!" The azure-haired boy showed off a silver sword, and a gray bucket of fish.

"Uh. Pretty cool, Rolf," remarked Jimmy.

"Let's do some more venturing!" shouted Rolf, so overjoyed with his findings that he didn't seem to notice his servant's lack of a collar. Jimmy and the Eds followed.

As soon as night fell, Rolf chose to stop by a river. The water ran deep, and was scarlet with algae. There were stones all around the border, and the shadows of unknown objects pooled and overlapped at the river's base.

"What do ya think those could be?" questioned Eddy.

"Let's go check it out!" responded Double D.

All three Eds peered their heads out at the estuary, and collectively gasped at what they saw.

"Are those… skulls?!" Ed cried.

"Ohhh, I think I'm gonna be sick," Eddy moaned, and brought his hands to his stomach.

"What happened here?" pondered Double D. He pointed his finger into the river below them. "Those two, over there, they kind of look like Kevin, don't you think…?"

"I dunno," Eddy said, squeezing his eyes shut. "Let's just get out of here!"  
But they couldn't leave just yet. They heard Rolf's voice echo off in the distance, and all three Eds hid behind a particularly thick-trunked tree to listen.

"Ah, the Crimson River. Such a momentous landmark of Peach Creek. Just think about it, Jimmy. We have done so much gratuitous work over the months! Look and see how much it has paid off! Memorize it, boy-Jimmy! Memorize this!" Rolf spoke, gazing off into the shimmering brook, lost in his own fantasy.

"Finally," Jimmy snarked.

"Work? What work? What payoff? What are they talking about?" Eddy stammered, fiddling with his fingers and twitching.

Rolf and Jimmy took their time to relax themselves at the Crimson River, until Rolf decided that it was time for them to leave.

"I think we have had enough vacation time for now, haven't we? It's about time we got back to the castle." Jimmy nodded solemnly, and the two wandered off, back onto the wooded path. and the Eds stole softly behind them as they went.

"Well, it's night now. We should get out of here, fast! Who knows what'll happen?" Eddy whined, pulling at his hair.

"Eddy, I told you that there's nothing to worry about! You're overreacting! Just calm down!"

However, just as soon as the trio made it back into the Phantom Woods, Ed was struck by a thorny, juniper-colored vine. A few feet ahead, Rolf met with the same predicament, causing him to shout.

"GHOSTS!" the boy howled. "They have come for vengeance!" Rolf started whimpering, as tears began to fall from his eyes.

Ed brushed at the vines, which fell away from him like cut rope.  
"Err, let's just get out of here!" said Ed. The other two boys nodded, and they dashed off down the path as quickly as they could, back to the Cul-De-Sac.

At every turn, the thorny plants seemed to whip and slash at Rolf, who was now sprinting and galloping for his life. A humongous dead wood branch plummeted from a tree and dropped down onto Rolf's leg, leaving him with a limp. Rolf let out a sharp cry of pain, and Jimmy moved to support him. After what seemed like an eternity of tangled legs and vine-caught feet stumbling over one another, the two escaped.

When Rolf finally made it back, an unexpected crowd of people gathered around the castle entrance caught his eye. Behind the crowd was Jonny, who had been tied up with golden rope chains and had a butter-colored ball gag stuffed up his mouth. These three girls, with their brightly colored, unkempt hair, lanky bodies, and unsettling stares, made the tan man shiver with fear.

"Hey girls, the geezer's back!" reported Mackenzie Eniko Kanker, who usually went by the nickname May. She was carrying a bow and a good amount of arrows, both of which belonged to Rolf.

"Oh, now we gotta move fast!" shouted Leann Matilda Kanker, also known as Lee. In her hands was a sack of potatoes, which, once again, was Rolf's.

"Kankers! Cease your shenanigans! ...And give me back my stockpiles!" Rolf made to storm up to the offending thieves, but his limp caused him to instead stumble to the ground.

"Cease? Why would we? We've been doing this for months without fail, why stop now?" a voice snapped, then giggled. Rolf looked upwards and found that right above him was Marianne Leopold Kanker, less formally called Marie.

"Anyways, me and my lackeys will be off. Come on, girls!" the woman commanded, and the Kanker sisters were gone as quickly as they had arrived.

Rolf sighed, and hobbled his way to his kitchen. He opened up his freezer, picked up a package of the frozen meat of Kevin's parents, and tossed it on the counter. The boy then preheated his oven to 450 degrees.

45 minutes passed, and after those 45 minutes, Rolf had the meat on a plate on his office desk. He picked up his silver fork, removed a sliver of flesh from his baked delicacy with it, and placed it into his mouth. The emperor smirked a bit and chuckled. "My work here has certainly paid off."


	8. Chapter 7: At The Ed Of Night

Midnight had approached in the Cul-De-Sac. Rolf had been snoozing in his office chair at the time, in an attempt to relax and calm himself ever since the Kanker situation. All was going reasonably well, until a scream startled him as soon as he least expected it.

"ROLF!" shouted Sarah, banging on the boy's office door. Rolf's eyes fluttered open, and he slugged out of his chair to open the door.

"What… now…" Rolf spoke in a meek yet extremely irritated tone, trembling.

"You tell me what happened to Kevin's parents right now!" the ginger girl demanded, clenching Rolf's shirt.

Rolf let out a large sigh. "Rolf told you that they were going through maintenance!" he answered raspily.

"What kind of maintenance? Are there some things you're not telling me? Come on, don't be so vague with me here!" Sarah responded.

"That is none of your business!" yelled the tan man.

"Oh, sure it isn't! Just you wait until I discover ALL OF YOUR SECRETS! From the people you interact with, to your personal beliefs and opinions, to the stupid magazines you read at night!"

"Yeah, like that will ever happen." Rolf slammed the door in Sarah's face, and she stomped away, pouting like a seal. Then the emperor tried to put himself back to rest, but his plan was disrupted by the blaring sound of rave music coming from outside of the castle.

"Ugh…" Rolf groaned. He walked up to his window, and noticed that the rave was being played on a boom box in the middle of the Cul-De-Sac. Most of the kids, Jonny, Jimmy, Sarah, and Double D were all moshing to the music passionately.

"Yep, all the partying in the world, all yours for only twenty-five cents!" exclaimed Double D, raising his hands high up in the air.

"Twenty-five cents my foot! I sell extremely valuable goods for the reasonably cheap price of one single ruby, and NOBODY wants em'! Meanwhile, Double Dork is getting richer by the second off of what, a stupid emerald's worth a party? What a bunch of stupid lame-o's," ranted Kevin, smoking a cigarette, chilling off in a hut he was in, which was chock-full of many drugs. These many drugs consisted of tobacco, wine, beer, marijuana, and cocaine, just to list a few.

"Drugs are bad, Kevin! Everyone knows that!" remarked Jonny. "And partying is good! Good like the things that Nazz sells! That stuff's amazing!"

"Oh, Nazz…" Kevin moaned.

Nazz, also sitting in another hut, filled with trinkets and food, glanced at Kevin with gleaming eyes.

"Kevin, I'd pay my whole supply of rubies for you and your luscious drinks," the blonde woman said.

"R-Really?" Kevin started blushing.

"Yup." Nazz pulled out three rubies from her pocket, gave them to Kevin, and in return was supplied with three bottles of grape wine.

"My favorite!" Nazz started guzzling the concoction, and then continued with, "Say, Kevin, ya wanna come with me and have a little fun?"

"Um… what about your customers?" Kevin brought up.

"They can wait when I'm done dealing with you," the girl retorted. "Do ya wanna play a game of Exploding Kittens while we're at it?"

"Sure!" replied Kevin, and he made his way into Nazz's hut.

Rolf stared in utmost contempt at his people. "Rolf did not take over the Cul-De-Sac for THIS," he murmured, and went back to sleep.

A few minutes earlier, Ed and Eddy had been asleep together in bed. Eddy in particular, had been so heavily into his slumber that he started to have a deep dream, or rather a nightmare. In this very dream, Eddy was standing in the castle's library. He wore a somber look on his face, his eyes were sunken in, and he had a tendency to stare down at the floor like a zombie. Rolf was in front of the pink boy, posing himself as if he was about to block somebody or something, and carrying a silver sword in his right hand.

"Stand back, Ed-boy! Rolf means it, stand back!" Rolf commanded. Eddy didn't listen. He just sauntered even further into Rolf's path.

"I SAID STAND BACK! EDDY!" The navy-haired monarch swung up his sword at his pint-sized victim almost spontaneously.

"Rolf…" Eddy rolled his tongue, spitting his words like a snake. He grabbed Rolf's arm with his left hand and swiped the sword away from him with his right hand. The blade was launched into Rolf's chest, opening up a wound. Blood sprayed from the blue man's gash rapidly, some of it staining his killer. Eddy licked some of the blood off of his hands, kicked Rolf's carcass out of his way, and took note of what Rolf was trying to obstruct him from; a marble wood table with one thick leg supporting a book. Eddy read the book, and what he found was a recipe to send him back to the Cul-De-Sac he had once lived in. The boy took the book to Rolf's kitchen, prepared the portal, and proceeded to go inside of it.

The portal finally transported Eddy to his desired location, the Cul-De-Sac. It looked mainly like what the boy had expected from his former home, flourishing green grass, lots of geometrically aligned brick houses, and oak trees of many warm hues surrounding the area. But, there was one noticeable distinction. The sky was a deadly-colored night, a dusk and murky violet gradient with a tint of vermillion blanketing the ozone.

The strangest part, however, was the kids themselves. They were all bunched in one group, with bitter scowls dominating each of their faces. The children looked as though they had been injured severely, Jimmy had a black eye, Nazz's legs were cut and scarred, and Rolf's neck had a bunch of huge bruises on it, just to name a few examples. Sarah had been dressed in Ed's clothing and was being gripped by the shirt collar by Rolf, who brought up a closed fist at her. Kevin was wearing Double D's attire, and he had been chained to his own bike and stuck inside the trunk of an oak tree. Jonny wore Eddy's clothes, just barely, as they were ripped and torn so much that most of his skin was visible, and his body had been tangled up with thorny vines.

"H-Hello?" stuttered Eddy. Jonny quickly turned his head to Eddy's direction.

"Guys! One of them is back!" Jonny quickly untangled himself from the vines, and rushed up to the pink boy, raising his fist at him.

"Where were you? What have you been doing all these days? Where are Ed and Double D?" the tan boy roared, as Eddy backed away from him timidly.

"Yeah, dork! We literally had to turn against one another just to make up for the fact that you weren't there to torment!" barked Kevin, wrestling his way out of the chains.

"But now that you're back, well, we all know what that means, right?" interrogated Sarah, who had been freed from Rolf's wrath.

"Mm-hm…" went all the other kids in the Cul-De-Sac.

The children were all backing Eddy into a corner, lustful and savage looks forming on their faces as they walked. "Um… guys? What are you doing?" the boy whimpered, shivering in terror.

"Something we should've been doing a long time ago!" Kevin announced. Then the kids latched themselves onto Eddy's body itself like leeches and started punching, kicking, slapping at it, all the while Eddy was screaming and pleading for his life.

Then the boy woke up, in response to a conversation that Kevin and Nazz were having about rubies, drinks, and Exploding Kittens. The rave music at Double D's party also caught Eddy's attention, prompting him to start shaking and fidgeting. He accidentally bumped into Ed a few times as he was shaking. Ed's eyes fluttered open in dismay, and he groaned.

"Do you mind?" The yellow man forcefully thrust his elbow into Eddy's gut area, knocking him off the bed. The jab was actually so powerful that it caused Eddy immense pain during its exertion. Yet deep down inside, the child felt a sense of euphoria within the pain. It was almost like a pleasurable feeling to him! Eddy began to ponder why he felt this unusual sentiment.

He then began to remember his dream, and how much the Cul-De-Sac kids were obsessing over him and his return. The Cul-De-Sac kids… Eddy thought. I wonder what's happening to them in real life… He paused to think more in-depth about the dream. Was it… an allusion to the actual Cul-De-Sac? Are they even okay back there? Eddy began to breathe in more air as he worried about his fellow acquaintances.

WHAT. HAVE. I. DONE? The thought popped into Eddy's head. He looked at his own arms, and he blinked. The boy looked for the needles he had once seen on the bed. After some exploring, Eddy had found a syringe with a violet substance inside of it and walked himself back to his own bed.

Eddy placed the syringe on his own wrist and sliced open the skin on it horizontally. "I'm sorry to ever have grieved you like this… Jonny…" Eddy continued hacking at his wrists to form five more cuts, totaling three cuts on each wrist.

"Kevin, Sarah, Jimmy, Nazz, and Rolf…" Eddy muttered. Then he slit his wrists two more times, one cut for each wrist.

"But I'm sorry to most of all, Ed and Double D…" Eddy burst into tears and started sobbing, wailing so loud and hard that even Double D in the middle of the partying Cul-De-Sac could hear him.

"Was that Eddy? What's happening to him?" Double D gasped urgently. He turned off the boom box as soon as he could.

"I'm sorry, guys, but the party's over! I hope you had a wonderful time!" the scarlet-shirted child choked, as he rushed back into his cell room. Nevertheless, Eddy had just fallen asleep a few seconds afterward due to the substance of the syringe.

"E-E-Eddy?" Double D called softly. He found Eddy's unconscious body on the bed, droopy and limp, and came closer to inspect it.

"Eddy, what happened?" The pale child noticed the scars on both of Eddy's wrists.

"Eddy…" Double D saw that there was a syringe in Eddy's left hand.

"Oh no… this is terrible! I've gotta save Eddy!" he squealed.

"But how…" Double D asked himself. He took the time to think of solutions, all the while remembering a certain event in the Phantom Woods involving Jimmy removing a collar from his neck.

The collar! Indeed! I could place Eddy on a collar and monitor him! The pale kid had an idea burst into his head.

Double D rushed outside of the castle, into the Phantom Woods, near the Kanker Trailer, picked up the dark-purple collar from the ground, and dashed his way back to his cell, hustling at the speed of sound. The kid knew not to put Eddy on the collar so soon, as it would disrupt Eddy's sleeping pattern. And so, Double D waited until daytime arrived.

As soon as the sun rose, Eddy's eyes fluttered open to the sight of a giddy, grinning Double D, with a collar in his hand.

"Augh!" the yellow-shirted boy screeched. "Double D? What are you doing in my bed?"

"Oh, I noticed that you were endangering yourself quite severely. And we can't have you dead when we need someone to help us get out of this dimension, now, can we?" responded the sockhead.

"Uh…" Eddy stammered.

"So that's why I'm gonna put you on this collar. I will use it to keep you in my sights, so nothing bad can happen to you." Double D opened the violet collar, and strapped it onto Eddy's tiny neck.

"I'm kinda scared, Double D…" Eddy bubbled. Double D smacked Eddy across the face with his left hand.

"Listen, Eddy! You cannot die here! This is for your own safety! Please learn to be appreciative of what I am doing for you!" Double D explained bluntly.

Meanwhile, Rolf was still in the office, thinking to himself. "What a rotten night…" he said, his hand clenching. "Kankers… rave parties… Rolf wishes he wasn't there…"

"Wasn't there…" Rolf paused. "That's it! Rolf shall seek refuge away from the Kankers, so that they cannot steal from him again! What a brilliant idea!"

"BOY-JIMMY!" Rolf yelled.

"Yes?" Jimmy said, opening the door.

"Pack your bags, Jimmy-boy. We are leaving for the Phantom Woods." Rolf ran out of the door and into the kitchen, Jimmy following along with him.

"What's the hurry?" the pale child asked. Rolf gave the boy a scornful glare.

"Are you MAD? Are you kidding Rolf? Are you such a dim-witted simpleton that you fail to comprehend the significance of the ruling of this Cul-De-Sac?" the azure-haired emperor bellowed.

"Well, geez, Rolf, if I need to know so badly about it, then why don't you explain it to me?" Jimmy spoke again.

"Alright, let Rolf tell you the entire story." Rolf cleared his throat.

"Moana Kanker was a woman of poor fortune. She lived in a shabby old trailer home with neglectful parents, was uneducated, and barely had enough to survive throughout the years. Her life was more miserable than one could ever imagine. The only good thing Moana had going for her was that she was considered to be quite gorgeous.

Born with lengthy ginger hair, fair, smooth peach skin, shiny magenta eyes, and decorative freckles, Moana Kanker was the most beautiful girl in all of the forest. On her 18th birthday, things took a turn for the worst, when Moana's parents killed one another in a drunken rage. Moana realized that she had to care for herself at this point. However, due to her lack of education, she could not get herself an actual job. And alas, she looked to the local Cul-De-Sac to find herself a suitable spouse to take care of her.

Moana's first lover was Mr. Michael Burns. He was a very risk-taking person, married and planning to have a child in the future. He and his wife were invited to a party at the Chill household, and Moana was also there. So, Moana challenged Michael to a drinking contest. They drank for a while, and soon Michael became unaware of his surroundings. When he had finally become sober, he found himself to be in Moana's bed, completely undressed. The horrified man then proceeded to run off to inform the authorities.

Next on Moana's list was dear Archer Chill. He certainly had a kind heart, but unfortunately was not very bright. He hosted another drinking party soon after the first one. Ignorant old Archer seemed to have had a bit too much grape wine, and his drunkenness deluded him into believing that Moana actually was his dear wife. The man remembered none of the incident afterwards, not drinking, not seeing Moana, not even being in the trailer with her.

The last victim of Moana's desires was Rolf's father, Giovanni Way. He was a hardworking shepherd man, who spent days upon days plowing at his fields for crops and hunting the best animals there were. One day, Giovanni decided to take a drink break. He placed a glass of water to his mouth, and consumed all of the liquid, not knowing that there was a roofie and some cocaine inside of it. Asleep fell the man, who soon after waking up, had already been helping Moana make her babies. When the drugs wore off, he also escaped Moana's clutches and told the police.

Moana never got to keep any of her lovers. What she was given instead over the course of nine months were three kids. Lee, daughter of Michael, May, who was Archer's child, and Marie Kanker, who was brought into the world by Giovanni's dreaded mistake.

The Kanker Sisters were born in the trailer that Moana had lived in all of her life. They had inherited it when Moana abandoned them to run away from the cops that wanted her for her crimes. Due to their lack of parental attention, they too, had to support themselves. They did this by stealing crops and supplies from Rolf's family, until they decided they had to vacate.

Rolf's father asked him to keep a promise before he left. He said, 'Hrodulf Marcus Way, I want you to promise me, to protect this Cul-De-Sac. Keep the Kanker family as far away from it as you possibly can. May I trust you with that?' Rolf told him that he take charge of the Cul-De-Sac as responsibly as he could.

The election month came, when the children had to vote between me and Jonny over who would be the king of the Cul-De-Sac. To my dismay, Jonny won the most votes. I could not let that happen. The Kankers were still stealing food from me, I'd need some sort of power to manage with that. So I took over the Cul-De-Sac myself through intimidation and dominance. It became pretty much a prophecy that I would rule Peach Creek, Jonny and you would be my servants, and I would milk my peasants as much as I needed them. Only a select few have the power to defeat me, and I shall not let them do so, not after all of this painful labor I went through!" Rolf sang this speech from the bottom of his heart. "Be prepared, Jimmy-boy, we are going to trump over these wretched Kankers and show them that they will step on us no more!"

And so, Rolf and Jimmy went to work, slaughtering all of the parents of the Cul-De-Sac, one by one. Every parent's meat was stored inside of a box for future use. Soon after every parent was dead, the last thing Rolf had to do was decide a place to hide in. A place far away, no one would ever even think of finding him there...


	9. Chapter 8: The End of the Ed-ing World

One day had passed, and the night had come yet again. Eddy stared down at the thievery book on his lap sullenly, and sighed. Being confined to a collar tied onto a bed pole, the boy pretty much KNEW at this point he could not have underwent anymore subjugation up until now. He opened up the book to a random page, and began to read it aloud.

"In order to properly discover what is essential to confiscating your rival's property, you must first gather more information on your rival themselves. What are they like, what else do they own, how intelligent are they, and especially aidful, what are they doing at the current point in time? All of these questions answered can be used to help you determine your rivals weaknesses," he said aloud, before sighing yet again.

Double D was sitting on his bed, staring at the wall, eavesdropping on Eddy's words. Hearing about having to learn more about Rolf, specifically what his plans were, and wanting Eddy to learn more about him too, to obtain more information about how to escape, sparked an idea in his head. He walked up to Eddy, and then proceeded to chat with him.

"Hey, Eddy, do you want to go outside for a walk?" Double D asked.

Eddy glared at the tall child. He knew that if he did comply, then that would only hinder with the reading needed to come up with a plan to steal the book. However, knowing Double D, and his vindictive ways, he'd most certainly regret it if he ever picked a fight with the guy.

"Um… sure…" Eddy spoke, raising his head up.

"Then let's go!" Double D untied Eddy's collar from the bed pole, but still left it on his neck, opened the door outside of the cell, and ran out to the door of Rolf's office. Double D peeked into the door's lock hole, but nobody was inside of the office. The two started checking out other areas in the castle, the kitchen, the bathroom, the stairs, but nobody was to be found. Eventually, the decision was made for Double D and Eddy to go out into the Cul-De-Sac.

Outside in the Cul-De-Sac, the night of the sky was a dark yet bright indigo, with hints of violet here and there, and the breeze felt very chilly. All of the other kids were outside, Nazz was in her shop, relaxing as she stared outside. Kevin, Sarah, and Jonny were fancying themselves on the road. Kevin was smoking a marijuana filled cigar, and Sarah and Jonny were dancing out on the streets to pop songs.

Rolf and Jimmy also seemed to be walking somewhere in the Cul-De-Sac, with stuffed burlap sacks in each of their arms.. Double D stopped in his tracks as he noticed this sight. "Hey, what's this?" he remarked, watching the other duo in interest, as they got closer and closer towards Double D and Eddy.

"What do you think that they could be up t-" Eddy's mouth was covered by Double D's hand in the midst of his sentence.

"Shush! We don't want Rolf to know that we're here!" Double D snapped in a soft yet stern voice, slapping Eddy to go with his lecture.

"I'll tell ya what. You wait by the fire hydrant over there, while I peep in on Rolf." Double D tied the leash on Eddy's collar to a cherry red fire hydrant that was standing right next to Jonny, Kevin, and Sarah, and ditched him for Rolf and Jimmy.

"Now, where exactly did you say we were going again?" questioned Jimmy.

"I said that we were going to the ghetto. Do you even pay attention to me?" Rolf responded with hostility.

"Oh, the ghetto, right. Isn't that the place inhabited by nobody but savages?" the pale boy said.

"Yes, and that's why we're going there! Those wretched Kankers would never dare to travel into the treacherous path of the ghetto!" Rolf chortled sinisterly.

"Uh, Rolf, ya sure we can survive there?" Jimmy added to the conversation.

"You ask too many questions, boy-Jimmy. Of course we can survive there, I can obliterate so many people it's not even funny! This is the perfect site for refuge!"

Double D started to take in Rolf and Jimmy's words as they were being said.

"Ghetto? Kankers? Refuge? That's interesting, I should tell Eddy about that," Double D noted to himself, and ran away to look for his friend.

As Double D was busy stalking Rolf, Eddy had been dealing with heartaches of his own. Kevin spotted the child, collared to the hydrant, as he was taking a good, long, gaze out at his surroundings.

"Huh? What is the dork doing here?" Kevin barked, perking up at the quaint sight of Eddy's predicament. Kevin glared more and more at the pink spectacle, even chuckling to himself a bit.

"Hey, guys, would ya take a gander at that over there?" the ginger boy announced, pointing at Eddy to direct the other kids' attention to him.

"Is that Eddy?" Sarah puzzled. "Why is he on a collar?"

"Who knows?" Jonny replied. "Let's go check it out."

Eddy heard the kids galloping up to him, and looked in their direction, to see them all smirking at him maliciously.

"Hey dork, what's with the collar?" sneered Kevin, giggling alongside his comment.

"Yeah!" Jonny added. "You look like a lost dog!" Eddy's cheeks merely flushed in response.

"Where's your owner, little puppy?" snorted Sarah. Eddy narrowed his head at the three and groaned like a wolf.

"I didn't choose this. Double D did this to me," the boy snarled. Kevin's eyes widened in perplexment.

"Wait… Double D was responsible…" Kevin paused. "Why would he do that? Let me guess, was your dorkiness too much to handle that he had to take some action to get a grip on it?"

The entire crowd burst into thunderous cackling over the situation.

"You must have such a fragile brain to need to be monitored in that way!" a snicker in Sarah's voice was heard.

"Yeah, fragile indeed!" Kevin's voice was back again. "What's it made out of anyway?" Eddy actually began to cry in response to the torment.

"Whatever it is, it has to be really soft, like… mozzarella cheese!" Jonny squeaked, grinning naively.

Kevin laughed again. "Yeah, exactly! That's what your brain is made of! Mozzarella cheese!"

"Just get out of my sights already…" Eddy lifted his right hand up and trembled up to the kids.

"Oh, I think you'd better watch out, Kev, Eddy's getting aggressive, he'll probably bite you!" Jonny teased, snide and playful.

"We'll just have to see about that, shall we?" Sarah snapped.

Eddy slowly became more and more tense, getting closer and closer to the group who was making a mockery of him, raised a tightened fist at Kevin, but immediately put his arm down, looked to the ground, and sighed.

"I really can't bring myself to actually hurt any of you. I'm sorry, but I know that if I actually put it upon myself to attack you, then you'd just start feeling the same way I do now…" the boy tilted his head down even further.

Double D stomped into the picture, with a scowl on his face, and his posture contorted into a gesture of wrath, with both of his fists closed, and his right fist coming at the front of his left fist.

"You leave him alone right now!" Double D growled. Kevin just became amused at the cherry-shirted child's actions.

"And just what are you going to do about it?" retorted Kevin, with his hands on his hip.

"This." Double D forced his hands onto Kevin's neck and proceeded to grasp the neck, leaving very little air for him to breathe. Kevin was wheezing, trying his utter hardest to scream for help, but failing miserably.

"Alright! We'll stop!" Kevin choked, and Double D released him, letting him fall to the ground.

"Are you okay, Eddy?" Double D asked in concern.

"Yeah," muttered Eddy, as Double D untied him from the fire hydrant, and began to walk him back to the castle, discussing Rolf's plans on the way.

Meanwhile, Rolf and Jimmy had just ventured into the Phantom Woods, taking the same path that they did in their previous trip, going through the grimy, gritty path of the scopious forestry. Later then, they stumbled upon the Kanker trailer yet again.

However, things took a different turn.

Jimmy strutted into the east direction, but then was stopped by Rolf clasping his left arm, and then turning him around back to the west direction.

"Where do you think you're going?" heckled Rolf.

"I-I was going where we went before…" Jimmy stuttered.

"No, boy-Jimmy!" scolded the cobalt-haired man. "We have an incriminating history down there! There is a river dedicated to us! We must go the opposite way in order to sustain any sheltering from those dreaded Kankers!"

Rolf lead the way left of the Kanker trailer, and Jimmy followed along with him.

The path they were taking, though, was one with elements completely separate from the previous woods. Trees were tiny and dying, sticks were everywhere on the ground, and the ground was barren of grass. Petite woodland animals such as raccoons and porcupines were observing the area, plotting to bite anyone that dared come their way. Rolf and Jimmy, unfortunately, underwent a lot of attacks from these feral creatures. Occasionally, Rolf also tripped on the sticks a few times. After a long period of walking and suffering, the duo finally made it to... the ghetto.

Right in front of Rolf and Jimmy was a dark wooden gate, and a pale, skinny teenage girl, with sunken in lime green eyes, a ragged linen tunic, and disorganized hot pink hair guarding said gate. When Rolf neared this gate, the girl forced her hand out to him, prompting him to stop in his tracks.

"Who goes there?" the woman interrogated.

"Uh…" Rolf stammered, shaking. "My name is Rolf Way, this is Jimmy Cartman, and we only come here to temporarily move in for a while!"

"Ah. I see. My name is Molly, and I also live here. If you want to live here, you just have to answer two questions," the girl with the pink hair responded.

"Number one," Molly queried, "do you plan on raiding this village?"

"No!" retorted Rolf. "In fact, we have brought our own supplies, so it would be useless to raid you anyway!"

"Number two, are you now or have you ever been a Kanker?" questioned Molly.

"Oh, no, ma'am! In fact, the Kankers are my mortal enemies! They have been stealing from me for months!" the azure haired shepherd boy denied.

"Huh. So you went through the same fate as us. Anyway, you have been accepted." Molly opened the door, allowing for Rolf and Jimmy to finally set foot inside of the ghetto.

"Ah, safe and sound at last," Rolf said, in a voice so soft and sincere. Unbeknownst to him, however, was that all of the other villagers, near many dark wood houses, were glowering at him and Jimmy, with bows and arrows in their hands.

"Dontcha dare go out mooching off us!" jeered one of the villagers. "Whatever y'all wanna take, we ain't givin' it to ya!" The villager proceeded to shoot arrows at Rolf and Jimmy, who were sprinting away to an area more secluded from the dark wood houses, with a few more trees and foliage. The two ducked behind some of the trees and placed their sacks.

"Ah, we are totally safe! No danger here! None at all!" Rolf announced to himself, smiling at the skies.

Back in the Cul-De-Sac, as this passed, Kevin was strolling around the castle. A sticky note was left hanging on one of the stone walls, and Kevin took a quick glance at it.

"Hey, someone left a sticky note on the castle," Kevin noted. Sarah, Jonny, and Nazz came closer to him.

"What's on the sticky note?" questioned Nazz.

Kevin focused his attention even more on the piece of paper. "It's from Rolf," he said.

"Dear citizens of the Cul-De-Sac,

"Jimmy and I have decided to temporarily vacate from the castle due to personal maintenance. Due to my provisional absence, all crime in this Cul-De-Sac is now legal for the time being, as I have no way of contacting any of my people. Signed, Rolf."

"Neat!" remarked Kevin. "Ya know what this means, guys?"

"What?" Jonny asked.

"It means we're free to do whatever the heck we want!" exclaimed Kevin.

"We can party all the time!" boomed Sarah!

"Kev and I can explore to find whatever things we want to sell! And more customers to boot" Nazz squealed in delight.

"Me and Plank can finally see the outside world for what it truly is!" chirped Jonny, embracing his wooden board.

"Cheers for the rise of anarchy!" roared Kevin, thrusting his fist high into the air.

Down at the cells in the castle, Ed had been asleep. Ed was left alone in his time of slumber, with nobody else but him in his bed. Double D and Eddy happened to be in one singular bed. Eddy had been stripped of his collar for the night and had extremely noticeable indent patterns on his neck. He and Double D had some issues to discuss.

"Double D… I didn't read enough of the book just yet!" snapped Eddy.

"Well, if you don't get your sleep now, you'll get more tired and have even less of the energy to digest the concepts in the book!" Double D argued.

"Double D, I don't think…" Eddy stammered.

"Just go to sleep! You need it!" retorted Double D.

"But-" Double D picked up a syringe from the "FOR INSOMNIA MAINTENANCE" box, and injected its liquid into Eddy's body, thus knocking him out. Moments after, Eddy began to fall into a state of deep dreaming.

In the dream, everything was black. Then a light shone, prompting Eddy to open his eyes. What Eddy saw just right ahead of him was the sight of Kevin, standing proudly and confidently, grinning fiercely like a tiger near its prey, and ringing his hands. Just behind him were Sarah, Jonny, and Jimmy, also smirking at Eddy.

"K-K-Kevin? What are you doing here? Where is this place?" Eddy worried.

"Oh, nothing much really, we're just trying to have fun, like the good friends we were supposed to be!" Kevin's voice echoed through the room.

"Friends? We're not friends, Kevin! I hate you!" Eddy sputtered, trying to point at the light child, however, was restricted in the process. Eddy looked down to see what it was that had been holding him down, and he noticed that his arms and legs were chained to an oak hardwood table. The kid struggled and struggled, and Kevin just laughed.

"This isn't funny! What is going on?" Eddy shrieked.

"To tell ya the truth, after your sudden disappearance, we figured it would be a good idea to permanently use you for one of the only things you're good for," explained Kevin.

"Like being laughed at!" Jonny set up an example.

"Well, what exactly are you planning to do to me?" the peach kid asked.

"You'll see…" whispered Sarah.

All four of the surrounding children moved into certain spots near Eddy so that they could activate their desired plans. Sarah pulled out a boom box from one of the corners of the room, and played an extremely infamous song on it, specifically a song called T-Shirt by Jared Soleus. Eddy screeched and shouted, and banged on the table in agony, begging for the pain to stop. Jimmy raised an eyebrow.

"Getting crabby, aren't we now? Oh, would ya just shut up and stop complaining?" Jimmy took off one of his shoes, took the sock off of his shoeless foot, and stuffed it inside of Eddy's mouth, muffling any sounds the child had tried to make. After that, Jimmy pulled and pricked at Eddy's hair strands, causing him even more pain.

"This'll calm you down." Jonny raised Plank up to Eddy's back and started to give the back a massage with the wooden slab. Eddy's screaming calmed down, however, the yellow-shirted victim started to growl in discomfort.

Kevin was the last to act upon his urges for humorous gratification. The orange haired man pulled out a whip from his pocket.

"It can always get worse." Kevin repeatedly scourged Eddy over the back with his whip, encouraging him to blush in embarrassment and let out a shrill, stifled scream.

Then all of a sudden, Double D, looking furious and carrying a katana in his hand, busted down the door to the room with his foot, and looked for the children.

When Double D found all of the kids who were tormenting Eddy, he quickly sliced all of them open with his blade, and set Eddy free from his chains, removing the sock from his mouth as well. Eddy stared in sheer terror at what happened to the kids.

 _Did Double D actually kill them? Why would he do such a horrible thing? Nobody deserves to die!_ Eddy thought to himself.

"You're going nowhere without me around." Double D affixed Eddy to the collar that he had worn back at the fire hydrant, and tried to walk Eddy with it. Eddy attempted to scamper away but was unsuccessful in doing so.

And then Eddy awakened from his sleep. He noticed a lone needle on the bed, and in a blind fit of rage and grief, heavily pierced his skin until he was bleeding very much through both of his arms.

Eddy started thinking again. _Nobody deserves to die, but me, I guess… This despicable me who treats his peers like they don't matter to him in the slightest..._


	10. Chapter 9: Two Eds Are Better Than One

The brisk air of night plagued the land. Eddy found himself in the original Peach Creek. Trees still had warm-colored leaves. Grass blades were that same dark chartreuse green. The sky looked of a midnight blue shade, lit only by bright, silver stars in the skies. One prospect turned out different though. Eddy wasn't in the Cul-De-Sac. Instead, he was at the forest's creek, sprinting away from something—or someone. An ebony black gated fence appeared just around the corner. Eddy dashed through the terrain, leaped over wood logs, and panted.

The thunderous stampede of bolting feet surrounded the forest. Children clamored in Eddy's path as well.

"Dork…" mumbled Kevin. Barely visible in the shadow of the night, only Kevin's voice warned Eddy of his presence. Eddy's peers, Rolf, Jimmy, Nazz, Jonny, and Sarah stood behind Kevin. The mob chasing after Eddy each had pitchforks in their hands, raised like swords in the night.

Eddy raced to the gated fence and pushed the doors of the gate, trying to open them. However, the doors still stayed shut, as if someone glued them together.

 _Locked! Drats…_ Eddy thought, releasing the black metal bars.

Kevin and his gang got closer and closer to their prey by the second. Eddy grabbed onto the black bars with his hands and feet and climbed the gate. He reached the top of the fence, dangling his foot on the other side. Kevin forcefully shook the gate until Eddy tripped and fell back on his knees.

"Hey, Eddy, guess who's one of us now!" Kevin swiftly propelled Eddy into his direction with the pitchfork. Everyone else in his group grabbed onto Eddy's limbs. Kevin grasped the boy's body and covered his mouth. Eddy squirmed and whimpered in terror, but it was no use. He screamed at the top of his lungs as loud as he could.

The scream woke Eddy up, fortunately. "Morning already?" he asked himself. He looked at his surroundings. Darkness clouded the entire room. It was still nighttime. Eddy stared at his own body. It looked skinnier than usual, most likely because Eddy had not been eating very much hay. The kid had gone from a few pounds at risk of being overweight, to thinner than a twig in an instant. He looked at his wrists, seeing even more cuts. They looked fresh, too. _Had they recently formed?_

"Double D will be so mad at me when he sees this!" Eddy groaned. "Can he blame me, though? I've been having so much nightmares lately, who can handle that?" Eddy sighed, remembering how Double D always smacked him across the face every time he didn't give him his way. _He hit Eddy for so much as daring to question why he was being collared! He hit him for simply speaking too loud! Even on the way home from the walk, he was slapped a ton for asking "stupid questions", as he put it! It was too much!_

An escape was the only thing Eddy cared for anymore. He had no motivation to read the book anymore, he just wanted to leave the Cul-De-Sac. _What's an easy method for getting that dang portal book?_ He pondered.

A memory popped into Eddy's mind. It was a conversation between Kevin and Nazz. He remembered how Nazz was telling Kevin about the American Revolution. After dealing with the abuse from the British parliament, the colonists essentially led a huge revolt against the king and his supporters!

 _Revolt!_ The word sprang into Eddy's head. _I'll revolt against Rolf! I could find him wherever he is and take what little he's got! But how…_ he thought.

 _I know! I'll burn whatever shelter Rolf has! He'll be sure to surrender!_

Eddy smirked in the pride of his plan and fell back asleep.

Meanwhile, Rolf and Jimmy were still at the ghetto, cooking human flesh on a bonfire. The settlers were cowering at the sight. They huddled together for comfort.

"This is horrifying…" murmured one of the villagers.

"Don't fret," consoled another voice. "He won't eat us if we stay calm and don't tell anyone…"

"Okay…" the villager replied.

Rolf breathed heavily and stared at Jimmy. "At last, we have diminished the burden of self-defense. Heh, not even the ghetto-boys have tried to attack Rolf! Nothing can go wrong!" the man marveled.

In the middle of the Cul-De-Sac, Kevin, Sarah, and Jonny were standing. Kevin goose-stepped in circles, trembling.

"Oh, imagine the things that can go wrong!" Kevin shrieked. Nazz stepped up to the boy, with a confused expression on her face.

"What's the matter?" Nazz asked.

"Ya know how Rolf left the Cul-De-Sac?" replied Kevin.

"Yeah, so?" said Nazz.

"Do you understand how dangerous the outskirts of Peach Creek are? Think of the awful stuff out there! Phantoms, savages, the Kanker sisters, they'll destroy Rolf to shreds! If we don't pitch in to help Rolf, and he comes out stressed from everything that happened to him, he'd treat us worse than ever!"

"Where is he?" questioned Sarah.

"I saw him going that way." Kevin pointed to the Phantom Woods. "He couldn't have gone to the Crimson River, that place is deadly and unsafe."

"Let's go search for him and do whatever we can to help him." Jonny proposed.

"Yeah!" shouted Kevin and Sarah in unison.

"Um… I'll just stay here, because I don't want to get hurt," Nazz stated.

"Go ahead. This job only requires the three of us, we can handle it," responded Kevin.

The trio trekked out of the Cul-De-Sac into the Phantom Woods to find Rolf.


End file.
